Italy says Russian ban on poultry is ungrounded

This ban covers Italian imports of live poultry, eggs and all poultry products, as well as used equipment for keeping, slaughtering and processing poultry.

According to Italian Agriculture minister Paolo De Castro, Russia’s ban on poultry imports from Italy is ungrounded. “Our poultry control is one of the strictest in Europe, and poultry deliveries to the domestic and foreign markets come exclusively from healthy birds,” said the minister.

An outbreak of low pathogenic bird flu strain H5N2 and antibodies to the H7 strain had been detected in northern Italy, near Ravenna, earlier this month during regular bird flu checks on farms.

All affected birds (10,000-12,000 ducks and geese on an industrial farm and about 200 chicken and guinea-fowls on a small farm) have been culled and bird movements’ monitoring had been tightened in 10-km areas around the farms.